GOP climate tack: Talk jobs, not science

'I think you have to focus on the American economy,' John Barrasso said. | John Shinkle/POLITICO

Another GOP presidential hopeful, former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman, warned during the campaign that Republicans attack science at their peril.

“When you make comments that fly in the face of what 98 out of 100 climate scientists have said, when you call to question evolution, all I’m saying is that in order for the Republican Party to win, we can’t run from science,” Huntsman said at a September 2011 debate.

Text Size

-

+

reset

The aftermath of 2012 has included even more introspection from Republicans about how to widen their appeal. At this year’s Conservative Political Action Conference, for example, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush warned activists that “way too many people believe Republicans are anti-immigrant, anti-woman, anti-science, anti-gay, anti-worker … and the list goes on.”

Democrats have been eager to use climate science as a wedge.

Organizing for Action — an advocacy group run by former Obama campaign staff — has started an effort to both advocate for Obama’s climate strategy as well as highlight members of Congress who question or deny climate science.

Virginia gubernatorial candidate Terry McAuliffe has likewise used the science card against his Republican rival, state Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli, who conducted a two-year investigation into state funding of former University of Virginia climate researcher Michael Mann.

And on Tuesday, after Senator Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) accused Obama of waging a “war on coal,” Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) countered that Republicans were engaged in a “war on science” — although McConnell hadn’t mentioned the science at all and instead called Obama’s plan a “unilateral economic surrender.”

Of course, a parallel exists among some Obama’s supporters who are looking to downplay the economics of climate policy in favor of focusing on the environmental and health benefits. On Tuesday, POLITICO and other news outlets reported on a set of talking points issued by a coalition of Obama supporters who urged advocates not to “lead with straight economic arguments” when talking up the president’s climate strategy.

Other Obama backers aren’t afraid to make the economic argument by highlighting businesses that support his climate plan. Administration officials have also stressed the enormous costs that states and cities face because of storms, droughts, floods and other events that they have pinned on a changing climate exacerbated by greenhouse gas emissions.

Some Republicans have found a way to blend the science and jobs arguments.

On Monday, Republicans on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee — including Barrasso — demanded that EPA provide more data on global temperatures and charged that Obama was making inaccurate statements. But they also pivoted back to the economy.

“To promote his global warming agenda, the president has stated that ‘temperature around the globe is increasing faster than was predicted even 10 years ago,’” wrote committee ranking member David Vitter (R-La.) and members including Barrasso and Inhofe. They added, “The American people deserve to know if the president has the facts straight, particularly as EPA presses ahead with zealous regulations that will drive up the price of electricity and make it harder for American workers to compete in the world economy.”

McKenna said Republicans can’t avoid science entirely, saying an opposition strategy focused solely on the economic impacts of regulations defies logic and is doomed to fail.

“If you really believe or accept that global warming is a legitimate, real, immediate threat, then there’s no amount of money you wouldn’t pay to avoid it,” he said. “But if it’s not, then you can talk about the economics all you want.”